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Recognize Economic Priorities

Capitalism Causes Discord & Its Own End

It’s a ques­tion of when, not if, cap­i­tal­ism will end. We need to rede­fine what we mean by growth, and become more respon­si­ble with­in all our relationships.

Cap­i­tal­ism is at the root of many of the major issues we face today. This is because nature is an inte­grat­ed sys­tem. So demand­ing adher­ence to anoth­er system—the free-market—that strains rela­tion­ships with exploita­tive, cli­mate-alter­ing prac­tices, will only win us hard­ship in the end.

Con­tin­u­ous cap­i­tal growth based in a world of finite resources is impos­si­ble. The more we go against nature’s truth, the more we endan­ger our­selves and oth­ers. The cap­i­tal­ist sys­tem is designed for end­less expan­sion and prof­it. This is prob­lem­at­ic. A body can­not grow unend­ing­ly. To grow in wealth will only result in oth­ers grow­ing in poverty.

One of Hong Kong’s ‘cof­fin homes’, Ben­ny Lam

Look at the signs—the increas­ing instances of: mono­cul­tures, cli­mate change cat­a­stro­phes, and even the inter-per­son­al con­flicts sewn from con­cerns over money—over time, the matured ego-tech­no-eco­nom­ic system’s con­tin­u­ous grind has become the main cause of glob­al mis­align­ment. Envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion under­writ­ten by the cap­i­tal­is­tic sys­tem is a fat, urgent wake-up call.

How might we learn to oper­ate by using renew­able resources and replen­ish­ing what we have tak­en from the Earth? How might we restore integri­ty to our rela­tion­ships with one anoth­er and the plan­et? As cap­i­tal­ism comes to a close, how might we re-inte­grate val­ues of com­mu­ni­ty, cre­ativ­i­ty, and renew­al into what­ev­er sys­tem comes to replace cap­i­tal­ism? We believe that the answer might revolve around the prac­tice of remem­ber­ing and rever­ing the sacred­ness of life in all our activ­i­ties. We believe in the crit­i­cal pri­or­i­ty to work toward estab­lish­ing con­di­tions in which life can thrive.

Mag­ic show poster, Stro­bridge & Co. Lith, 1897
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